I think the reason the jigaboo comment wasn't given as much media is because they were referencing a Spike Lee joint. This does not make the comment any better but apperently makes it more socially acceptable.

__________________
The greatest good we can do our country is to heal its party divisions and make them one people.Thomas Jefferson,.

You’ve given Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson another opportunity to pretend that the old fight, which is now the safe and lucrative fight, is still the most important fight in our push for true economic and social equality.

You’ve given Vivian Stringer and Rutgers the chance to hold a nationally televised recruiting celebration expertly disguised as a news conference to respond to your poor attempt at humor.

Thank you, Don Imus. You extended Black History Month to April, and we can once again wallow in victimhood, protest like it’s 1965 and delude ourselves into believing that fixing your hatred is more necessary than eradicating our self-hatred.

The bigots win again.

While we’re fixated on a bad joke cracked by an irrelevant, bad shock jock, I’m sure at least one of the marvelous young women on the Rutgers basketball team is somewhere snapping her fingers to the beat of 50 Cent’s or Snoop Dogg’s or Young Jeezy’s latest ode glorifying nappy-headed pimps and hos.

I ain’t saying Jesse, Al and Vivian are gold-diggas, but they don’t have the heart to mount a legitimate campaign against the real black-folk killas.

It is us. At this time, we are our own worst enemies. We have allowed our youths to buy into a culture (hip hop) that has been perverted, corrupted and overtaken by prison culture. The music, attitude and behavior expressed in this culture is anti-black, anti-education, demeaning, self-destructive, pro-drug dealing and violent.

Rather than confront this heinous enemy from within, we sit back and wait for someone like Imus to have a slip of the tongue and make the mistake of repeating the things we say about ourselves.

It’s embarrassing. Dave Chappelle was offered $50 million to make racially insensitive jokes about black and white people on TV. He was hailed as a genius. Black comedians routinely crack jokes about white and black people, and we all laugh out loud.

I’m no Don Imus apologist. He and his tiny companion Mike Lupica blasted me after I fell out with ESPN. Imus is a hack.

But, in my view, he didn’t do anything outside the norm for shock jocks and comedians. He also offered an apology. That should’ve been the end of this whole affair. Instead, it’s only the beginning. It’s an opportunity for Stringer, Jackson and Sharpton to step on victim platforms and elevate themselves and their agenda$.

I watched the Rutgers news conference and was ashamed.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke for eight minutes in 1963 at the March on Washington. At the time, black people could be lynched and denied fundamental rights with little thought. With the comments of a talk-show host most of her players had never heard of before last week serving as her excuse, Vivian Stringer rambled on for 30 minutes about the amazing season her team had.

Somehow, we’re supposed to believe that the comments of a man with virtually no connection to the sports world ruined Rutgers’ wonderful season. Had a broadcaster with credibility and a platform in the sports world uttered the words Imus did, I could understand a level of outrage.

But an hourlong press conference over a man who has already apologized, already been suspended and is already insignificant is just plain intellectually dishonest. This is opportunism. This is a distraction.

In the grand scheme, Don Imus is no threat to us in general and no threat to black women in particular. If his words are so powerful and so destructive and must be rebuked so forcefully, then what should we do about the idiot rappers on BET, MTV and every black-owned radio station in the country who use words much more powerful and much more destructive?

I don’t listen or watch Imus’ show regularly. Has he at any point glorified selling crack cocaine to black women? Has he celebrated black men shooting each other randomly? Has he suggested in any way that it’s cool to be a baby-daddy rather than a husband and a parent? Does he tell his listeners that they’re suckers for pursuing education and that they’re selling out their race if they do?

When Imus does any of that, call me and I’ll get upset. Until then, he is what he is — a washed-up shock jock who is very easy to ignore when you’re not looking to be made a victim.

No. We all know where the real battleground is. We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show. There’s no money and lots of danger in that battle, so Jesse and Al are going to sit it out.

Everyone here who thinks Imus isn't a bad guy ...well all I can say is that I hope you never have to explain to your daughter when she comes home crying because her teacher called her a hardcore nappy headed hoe why the teacher isn't a bad person and rap artists are the ones to blame...

Jason Whitlock hit the nail on the head. If you didn't read the whole article, you should. He could have left out the personal dislike for Imus, but other than that, it was one of the best honest articles I've ever read. Why won't America get it through their heads?

it was especially gutless for them to pull the plug on him before his radiothon was over yet too...it was to last another day. Guy has raised over 40 million for kids with cancer since 1990 and they couldnt wait one more day for such a good cause? he helped raise over a million just today

And the Hell's Angels are well documented as raising lots of money and toys for underprivileged children at Christmas time. Regrettably the organization is well known as a major player in the manufacture and distribution of crystal methamphetamine... so in the HA's case it's "sorry your mom is strung out on meth and we profit from it but here have a stuffed toy" and in Imus' case it seems to be "sorry I've been spreading hatred and racial stereotypes since before your mother was born but here's some medicine so you can be healthy and fully enjoy it when some calls you a jiggaboo or a hardcore, nappy headed ho thus marring one of the proudest moments of your life".

that's a bad analogy. Imus isn't causing more people to become junkies. He's a radio personality. I'm sure what Howard Stern says is just as bad but in different ways. He's raising money for other people whom he doesn't have any direct effect on.

I just meant it to say that you can't cover up bad deeds with a token good deed.

Everyone here who thinks Imus isn't a bad guy ...well all I can say is that I hope you never have to explain to your daughter when she comes home crying because her teacher called her a hardcore nappy headed hoe why the teacher isn't a bad person and rap artists are the ones to blame...

Sorry such a delayed response, but I would hope that I will have instilled my daughter with enough confidence and self-respect that the words of another have little-to-no impact on her. As juvenile as it may sound, whatever happened to "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Seriously. If my daughter came home crying cause someone called her a name, my simple instruction will be to get over it. No one is powerful enough to break you down with words. No one.

Unless, of course, you look to Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson for your leadership.

If a well-educated college student who has a full scholarship to play basketball at a major institute of higher education isn't self-assured enough to simply get over what some stupid radio hack says, than her issues are beyond the words of Don Imus.

"Wasn't in a woodpile, was he?" (Responding to news that former black militant H. Rap Brown, subsequently known as Abdullah Al-Amin, was found hiding in a shed in Alabama after exchanging gunfire with police. Imus is here alluding to the expression "****** in the woodpile.")

"We all have 12-inch penises." (After being asked what he has in common with Nat Turner, Malcolm X, Minister Louis Farrakhan, Latrell Sprewell from the New York Knicks, and Al Sharpton.)

"Chest-thumping pimps." (Description of the New York Knicks.)

"A cleaning lady." (Reference to journalist Gwen Ifill, possibly out of pique that she wouldn't appear on his show. "I certainly don't know any black journalists who will," she wrote in the April 10 New York Times. The Chicago Tribune's Clarence Page used to appear, but after he made Imus pledge not to make offensive comments in the future, he was never asked back.)

On Jews:

"I remember when I first had [the Blind Boys of Alabama] on a few years ago, how the Jewish management at whatever, whoever we work for, CBS, or whatever it is, were *****ing at me about it. […] I tried to put it in terms that these money-grubbing bastards could understand."

"That buck-tooth witch Satan, Hillary Clinton." […] "I never admitted it when I went down there and got in all that big jam, insulting Bill Clinton and his fat ugly wife, Satan. Did I? Did I ever say I was sorry for that?"

On Native Americans:

"The guy from F-Troop, Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell." (This is a reference to the zany Indian characters on the 1960s TV sitcom F-Troop. They had names like "Roaring Chicken," "Crazy Cat," and "Chief Wild Eagle.")

On Japanese:

"Old Kabuki's in a coma and the market's going up. […] How old is the boy? The battery's running down on that boy." (Reference to Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi, who died the following week.)

On gays:

"I didn't know that Allan Bloom was coming in from the back end." (The homosexuality of the author of The Closing of the American Mind became widely known when Saul Bellow published Ravelstein, a novel whose protagonist was based on Bloom, who by then was deceased.)

"The enormously attractive [NBC political correspondent] Chip Reid, I can say without being accused of being some limp-wristed 'mo."

On the handicapped:

"Janet Reno's having a press conference. Ms. Reno, of course, has Parkinson's disease, has a noticeable tremor. […] I don't know how she gets that lipstick on (laughter) looking like a rodeo clown."

Every one of these statements came directly out of Imus' mouth on his program. That's striking because Imus usually leaves it to other show regulars to say the most offensive stuff, with Imus feeding them straight lines. It's safer that way.

Sorry such a delayed response, but I would hope that I will have instilled my daughter with enough confidence and self-respect that the words of another have little-to-no impact on her. As juvenile as it may sound, whatever happened to "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." Seriously. If my daughter came home crying cause someone called her a name, my simple instruction will be to get over it. No one is powerful enough to break you down with words. No one.

Unless, of course, you look to Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson for your leadership.

If a well-educated college student who has a full scholarship to play basketball at a major institute of higher education isn't self-assured enough to simply get over what some stupid radio hack says, than her issues are beyond the words of Don Imus.

Of course the issues of sexism and racism go beyond the words of Don Imus. Equally, the potential harm of these words goes beyond their impact on any single student.

I work with some of this country's worst each and every day...the word "hoe" is used very often by these guests of mine, along with the n word, the fu word, the bich word...in fact that is some of the tame stuff....does it make it right???.....no..but it is an excepted part of the vocabulary that these people grew up with.....we have very few moral values left in this country today...if it feels good do it...if i want to say it say it....hey its a free country..its my right of expression..its my culture..its the way I was brought up..so I can say and do what I want....but if in isn't part of your culture, if I deem what you say and do socially and culturaly offensive...you are going to have hell to pay!!!

What this Imus guy said was wrong to me, to you and to many others...however I will not sit here and cruicfy a man I don't know and don't care to know....we all pay for what we do and say...in one way or another...you take the good with the bad...we all answer to someone or somebody in the end for our actions.

I just laugh though when I see and hear the same language everyday, can turn on HBO, go to a rated R movie, listen to music, read books and magazines and yes turn on the radio and hear things I find offensive and wrong...but you know what folks..I can turn off the TV, the radio,.not read the book or magazine, not listen to the music..its my choice..its what those guys in uniforms over in Iraq are fighting for.......I think for myself..I don't need Jesse, or Al or CBS or any of the make a buck at all cost media to tell me what I think or what I should find offensive

Honestly, I never understand this comment when folks break it out when discussing political correctness.

Being respectful and mindful of others and their feelings will lead to the downfall of America?

I guess you'll have to give me your definition of political correctness....

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAScrub

As juvenile as it may sound, whatever happened to "sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me."

The fallacy in "stick and stones..." is that words lead to thoughts. And thoughts lead to actions.

Example: In a historical and social vacuum, Hitler's and other German nationalists' oratory in the 1920's was innocuous. They were just words, right?

Without context, the "N" word is just a word, right?

Words are powerful. They do hurt. Conversely, they do uplift us, too. If no words have ever hurt you, you are a more self-realized person than 99.9% of people on this planet.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAScrub

Seriously. If my daughter came home crying cause someone called her a name, my simple instruction will be to get over it.

I have a daughter, too. And as a father I would hope you would have a little more empathy for your own blood than that. C'mon now.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SAScrub

If a well-educated college student who has a full scholarship to play basketball at a major institute of higher education isn't self-assured enough to simply get over what some stupid radio hack says, than her issues are beyond the words of Don Imus.

When I hear this comment about Britain, what concerns me isn't the speaker's definition of "political correctness", but rather their definition of "Britain".

The same question might be asked of America here, I guess.

Good point. I agree. One person's America is another person's outhouse.

Quote:

Originally Posted by theman21

Really?

You don't see how any comment made can be skewed into being disrespectful to someone? ....to the point that the real issues are ignored all in the name of political correctness?

I guess I don't know what ignored "real issues" of which you speak. True, many people can find offense in the most innocuous of comments. However, in Imus' case, one could hardly call those comments and the social/cultural context innocuous.

I guess what I don't understand is why people think it's such a ungodly effort to try to respect others with their speech. If African-Americans want White people to call them African-Americans, what's wrong with that?

Why not make the effort? It fosters understanding, respect and general good feelings between different cultural/social/political groups.

What political correctness does do is challenge hegemonic structures...people don't like giving up their power (and so it goes, their insults).

a perfect example of political correctness and how it often ignores the issue in the name of being skewed to offend someone.

No offense, but this is a slow pitch softball.

I can't think of a positive connotation of the word, "ghetto." Unless I am missing some alternate definition. Gingrich posits that Spanish (ergo, their speakers, their culture, their identity) is equated with the "ghetto" --- not a positive association. (Hence you had Latinos angry at him.)

How is Spanish anymore "ghetto" than English? Than Russian? Urdu? Romanian?

Though not an intentional sleight, Gingrich, a public figure, should know better. It's all about choosing your words carefully.

Why didn't he just say this to begin with:

"it is important to speak the English language well in order to advance and have success," he said.

....instead of using "ghetto".

He gets the point he was trying to make across, and there's no disrespect towards Spanish speakers. WIN-WIN.

It's funny. The explanations afterwards are always respectful and well-crafted. It would be a whole lot easier for politicians, media types, etc. if they just say the respectful, well-crafted FIRST and leave the stereotypes and disrespect at the door.

a perfect example of political correctness and how it often ignores the issue in the name of being skewed to offend someone.

I understand your frustration with the story you link to. While it can be said that Gingrich's words reinforce sterotypes and/or promote monoculture in America, his message about equipping people to participate fully in American society as it currently stands seems sensible.

However, you do Gingrich a disservice by linking his story to the words of Imus, a positive interpretation of which I have yet to see.

the issue here reminds me of something the late playwright samuel beckett once postulated regading human relations. he said that all relationships possess a certain degree of a master/slave quality to them and that this is often manifested in our language. in the case of rappers spewing misogynistic comments i believe beckett would suggest that this is a case of male/female conscious and subconscious struggles being amplified through speech. i would imagine that many rappers may have grown up in an environment where disrepect towards women was allowed, either verbally or physically. (and really, how often on this site are women regarded in physical terms?) the language or rap often represents the master/slave quality of certain male positions regarding women. (let's not let heavy metal off the hook here as it can be quite disrespectful to women as well).

in the case of imus, i believe that an incident in which a white male (and let us not think that the white male has now become the most suffered individual in america) uses language that is directed towards individuals that have enjoyed assimilation into higher education and a certain level of empowerment, then the individual making that comment may become an allegory for the master/slave dynamic that has existed throughout american history. the reference to these women with language that can be associated to times of slavery or even more recent times where violent prejudices still occupied the streets will bring up connotations of racism. this does not define imus as a racist but it does define his language as racist. the rapper guilty of employing the same vernacular is using language that is misogynistic and also a part of the master/slave relation only as it is applied to gender relations as opposed to race. either way, these are clearly examples of language being used in such a way that it creates a discourse guilty of demeaning thought.

Very Good article by Shaun Powell. Much along the lines of Jason Whitlock, he says this goes much deeper than just Imus.

Shaun Powell Shaun Powell
SPORTS COLUMNIST
It's more than just Imus
April 12, 2007
In retrospect, outraged people shouldn't have united and screamed "blank you" to Don Imus the last few days. No, instead, we should've stuck out our hand and said, "Thank you."

We should feel indebted to a shriveled, unfunny, insensitive frog for being so ignorant that he actually did us all a favor. He woke society the hell up. He grabbed it by the throat, shook hard and ordered us to take a long, critical look at ourselves and the mess we've made and ignored for much too long. He made us examine the culture and the characters we've created for ourselves, our impressionable young people and our future.

Had Imus not called a bunch of proud and innocent young women "nappy-headed hos," would we be as ashamed of what we see as we are today?

I'm not sure if the last few days will serve as a watershed moment for this MTV, middle-finger, screw-you generation. Probably not, according to my hunch. A short time from now, the hysteria will turn to vapor, folks will settle back into their routines, somebody will pump up the volume on the latest poison produced by hip-hop while Al Sharpton and the other racial ambulance chasers will find other guilt-ridden white folks to shake for fame and cash. In five minutes, the entire episode of Imus and his strange idea of humor will be older than his hairstyle. Lessons learned will be lessons forgotten.

I wish I were wrong about that last part. But I doubt it, because any minute now, black people will resume calling themselves *****es and hos and the N-word and in the ultimate sign of hypocrisy, neither Rutgers nor anyone else will call a news conference about that.

Because when we really get to the root of the problem, this isn't about Imus. This is about a culture we -- meaning black folks -- created and condoned and packaged for white power brokers to sell and shock jocks like Imus to exploit. Can we talk?

Tell me: Where did an old white guy like Imus learn the word "ho"?

Was that always part of his vocabulary? Or did he borrow it from Jay-Z and Dave Chappelle and Snoop Dogg?

What really disappointed me about that exhausting Rutgers news conference, which was slyly used as a recruiting pitch by Stringer, was the absence of the truth and the lack of backbone and courage. Black women had the perfect opportunity to lash out at their most dangerous oppressors -- black men -- and yet they kept the focus on a white guy.

It was a tremendous letdown for me, personally and professionally. I wanted Stringer, and especially her players, many of whom listen to rap and hip-hop, to take Nelly to task. Or BET. Or MTV. Or the gangsta culture that is suffocating our kids. They had the ear and eye of the nation trained upon them, and yet these women didn't get to the point and the root of the matter. They danced around it, and I guess I should've known better, because black people still refuse to lash out against those black people who are doing harm to us all.

Honestly, I wasn't holding my breath for Sharpton or Jesse Jackson, a pair of phony and self-appointed leaders, because they have their agendas and financial stakes. I was hoping 10 young women, who have nothing on the line, who are members of a young culture, would train their attention to within the race, name names and say enough is enough. But they didn't, and I was crushed.

You should walk around the playground and the elementary and high schools today and listen to how young black people speak to each other, treat each other and tease each other. You'd be ashamed. Next, sample some of their CDs and look at the video games they're playing. And while you're at it, blame yourself for funding this garbage, for allowing your kids to support these companies and for not taking a stand against it or the so-called artists making it happen.

Black folks, for whatever reason, can be their own worst enemy. The last several days, the media had us believe it was Don Imus. But deep down, we know better.

The fallacy in "stick and stones..." is that words lead to thoughts. And thoughts lead to actions.

Example: In a historical and social vacuum, Hitler's and other German nationalists' oratory in the 1920's was innocuous. They were just words, right?

Without context, the "N" word is just a word, right?

Words are powerful. They do hurt. Conversely, they do uplift us, too. If no words have ever hurt you, you are a more self-realized person than 99.9% of people on this planet.

Hitler was a person of power and influence. Imus is irrelevent. As big as his radio show was, he didn't have the ability to motivate anyone to hate certain minorities.

Words do hurt and are powerful. But only when they are spoken from the mouth of someone who matters. If in your next post you tell me how disappointed you are in me, I probably won't skip a beat. But if my Dad calls me right now and tells me he's disappointed in me, yes I will be hurt. He matters to me. Hitler mattered to the Germans. Imus matters to who?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Menudo Terremoto Williams

I have a daughter, too. And as a father I would hope you would have a little more empathy for your own blood than that. C'mon now.

Yes, I'll have empathy. But I won't foster any insecurites or allow her to make those words a life-scarring event. I'll be sorry that someone said that to her, but teach her to be stronger and more self-assured.

the problem goes WAY beyond Imus...and Imus shouldnt even be the focus in all this.

Hell had advertisers not pulled their ads from his show does CBS even fire him? I doubt it. his show was brining in 15 million a YEAR to the network according to CBS themselves.

its been known for 30 years that Imus has said TONS of controversial stuff in the past...even racial comments yet his show went no where

now it suddenly does? I hope people dont buy into the CBS spin that he was fired for his actions...he got fired because they would lose too much money to keep him since all the companies were pulling away.

it was a business decision..yet some will spin it into MSNBC and CBS actually taking some moral stand

That was my initial point in this thread was that thigns are goign to start gettig done when sponsors decide they will...it didn't take long for him to get canned after his list of sponsors declined to buy spots for the next month.

Kudos to those guys. ANd if you ahve an XM radio and he transfers over just go ahead and write about 5% of whatever you pay monthly right to Imus. no more sponsors on sattelite, just you and me.

the problem goes WAY beyond Imus...and Imus shouldnt even be the focus in all this.

Hell had advertisers not pulled their ads from his show does CBS even fire him? I doubt it. his show was brining in 15 million a YEAR to the network according to CBS themselves.

its been known for 30 years that Imus has said TONS of controversial stuff in the past...even racial comments yet his show went no where

now it suddenly does? I hope people dont buy into the CBS spin that he was fired for his actions...he got fired because they would lose too much money to keep him since all the companies were pulling away.

it was a business decision..yet some will spin it into MSNBC and CBS actually taking some moral stand

It reminds me of the South Park manatee/Family Guy episode, only, instead of blatant censorship, it's kind of "capitalist censorship." If you exert just enough pressure to make some advertisers pull their funding, you can get anything off the air. That's not a good precedent for free speech, regardless of what Imus said.